Reality
by ComradeAngel
Summary: In another world, things are far less fanciful.


Aleksander Ferdinand, the heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, stood silently, looking out the window of an upper level of the abandoned fortress he now called home, watching as a blizzard raged outside. Explosions echoed far off in the distance, carried by the wind and bouncing off of cliffs. _Die Schweiz_ was a small nation; he would have to trust that the other nations of Europe respected the Swiss Confederation's territorial sovereignty and established neutrality. There were already worries that the fighting would spill over into Switzerland at Jura; at least, that's what the radio chatter said.

"Volger?" he asked his mentor and guardian, who say towards the back of the cold stone room, taking inventory of various weapons by candlelight. "When do you think the war will end?"

Volger didn't respond for a moment as he meticulously and carefully counted out the number of bullets in a magazine. He sighed heavily, possibly in frustration, knowing the prince's true question was 'when can I go home?'. Ignoring the fact that the boy was supposed to be helping him, rather than gazing angstily out the window. "I don't know, Alek." he said. "When it began there was talk of it only lasting a few weeks. Now that we know that the glory of warfare has died, there's no telling how long this may stretch out."

Exactly the opposite of what Alek wanted to hear. He wanted a clear, sure answer. 'It'll be over in a week, Alek. Then you can go back to your warm bed and your toy soldiers.'. Another 'boom' reached his ears, louder and seemingly closer. Then another. In the distance, he saw a brilliant orange and red fireball erupt in the air.

"Volger?"

"Enough of your questions, child. Help me fill magazines."

"Volger, look!"

The count looked up from his task, out the window. His eyes bugged out momentarily, before he returned to his normal wooden expression. "Alek, downstairs." he ordered. "Now."

Alek followed the order without arguing and made his way down the stone stairwell to the courtyard where his servants, who he now thought of as his comrades, all sat around a fire. They welcomed him warmly, and told him to take a seat. His Serene Highness Aleksander Ferdinand von Hohenberg leaned against the green metal of the truck which carried them across Austria, and let himself doze in the warmth of the fire. Slowly drifting off into sleep, he saw wondrous things.

Metal golems the size of buildings, walking upon two legs and armed to the teeth. Entire battleships that walked upon the land on eight legs like a spider. A massive tower that crackled with electricity as lightning seemed to burst from it into the clouds above. The face of a girl he had never seen, but felt he should, with cornflower blue eyes and a feeling about her that seemed to radiate confidence. For a fleeting moment, he saw his own death, on a bed in a mansion, in the scattered remains of what had once been Austria-Hungary. 

* * *

"Jerry plane, starboard!"

Deryn Sharp instinctively ducked as the harsh whining of an aeroplane's propeller shot overhead. Everything was white. Invisible. She couldn't see more than a foot in front of her, and had the strangest sensation that she was falling, without actually falling.

A scouting mission. That's all it was supposed to be. Fly over and around enemy lines, snap photos of enemy defenses, then fly back. I wanna join the R.A.F., she said, I'll be fine, she said.

Great Britain had known the inferiority of airships to the aeroplane for years, though. They hadn't been counting on the German Empire having a large number of military aircraft in addition to military dirigibles.

The hissing sound of hydrogen escaping the ship practically stopped the girl's heart.

"We're losing altitude!" someone shouted.

The whining drone of propellers returned, and then the thing she knew...she was actually falling. The world around her was suddenly orange and blazingly hot. She was falling, falling, falling-...

When she awoke, the first thing she noticed was that she was no longer falling. The second was that she was cold. So, so cold. She couldn't move. She called out, for someone, anyone. She was met with silence, save for the blowing wind, the crackling flames, and the groaning of metal as the airship's metal frame began to completely collapse.

"J-Jasper?" she cried. "Mummy?" After a moment, "Da'?" She saw it then, through the snow, a figure approaching, a tall and confident man. "Da'!" she exclaimed, descending into a coughing fit as a red liquid bubbled up her throat. Her father smiled reassuringly as he crouched down beside her, stroking her hair and telling soon it would all be over. She could come be with him, and they could fly. Fly through the skies together to their hearts' content.

She smiled a bloody smile as her eyes fluttered shut. She saw incredible things. Whale-like beasts that floated lazily in the sky. Giant beasts that lumbered across the land. The Kraken itself pulling a ship beneath the waves. She saw the face of a boy who she had never seen, but felt that she should know, with impossibly green eyes and an air of nobility about him. Slowly she felt herself slipping away and her body become light.

For her, reality ran out, and a new kind began.


End file.
